The Martin D-45

Welcome to the Martins and More PODCAST! Today, we'll be discussing the iconic Martin D-45. From its introduction in the 1930's, its resurrection in the late 60's, and the re-imagining in 2018- the story of the D-45 is a long one - and worth every minute. We'll also ask Maury what it's like to finally own a D-45! Sit back & relax as Maury & Spoon get their D-45 chat on.  This podcast features the conversation and opinions of musician T Spoon Phillips. A writer by trade, Spoon's longtime association with professional musicians, luthiers, and music historians affords him a richly unique perspective on all things acoustic guitar. This includes decades of close friendship with executives and employee at C. F. Martin & Company, past and present, and the host of this podcast, Maury Rutch of Maury’s Music.  Visit Spoon at http://TSPguitar.com AND at http://onemanz.com/  Check out Maury's Music at https://www.maurysmusic.com

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
foreign [Music]

(00:09):
welcome back to Martins and more my name is Maury Rutch and I'm spoon Phillips
and we have 45 things to talk about today spoon what's going on
well it is going to be a very nice day talking about one of the iconic guitars
ever made one of the iconic musical instruments ever made very nice

(00:34):
the Martin d-45 buckle up folks it's going to be a really good show and we have to thank our good friend Colin for
suggesting this episode we hope you enjoy it yeah that's right thanks mate uh Colin
is an Englishman um and I would say uh publicly for the record he is the reason I follow West
Ham United he grew up near uh the Old West Ham stadium in East London though

(00:59):
he now lives in the west country and has himself some mighty fine left-handed
Martins so thanks Colin uh it was great to hear from you and I really appreciate
the suggestion go football
I am so excited to talk about this guitar because I finally have one that's right Mario Rich has a d45 that

(01:28):
his better half Lori basically gave him for Christmas
better half that's debatable no it's not
don't call for a vote we just checked with everyone and it's
not debatable thank you so congratulations and uh and from what

(01:53):
I've heard already on the shows you've been putting up on YouTube you've got a
spectacular one which I guess one would expect well then Martin d45
thank you so much I really am blessed I'm having so much fun with it and depending on how well you know me from
real life or from these programs I have always always wanted a d45 ever since I

(02:15):
found out about Martin guitars that was the top of the mountain and I won't tell you that I've struggled and reached for
it and spent 30 years trying to get one literally but as soon as I recognize what a Martin guitar is that's the one
that I had in the back of my mind Someday I'm gonna have one of them fast forward to 2003 we've become a Martin
Guitar Dealer that wasn't the first order of business and a lot of you guys listening to this show if you own your

(02:40):
own business you recognize the first thing you do is not start buying toys for yourself so that wasn't on my radar
early but I could not let any more time go by when I finally had the opportunity to drop the necessary hints we can get
into the nuts and bolts of it along the way through this program but I got to tell you when I finally knew that I had to finally make this dream a reality I'm

(03:02):
extremely extremely lucky that my wife did not disagree you said it you said it so I uh I know
there's a lot of guitar lovers out there who have wives that are not necessarily
as enthusiastic or supportive but uh but you know there are others certainly are but you certainly have a winner and and

(03:24):
you now own a winner in that d45 so uh what what is the year of production of
this d45 this is a 2021 we took delivery of this early 2022 but the guitar was built in
2021 Ah that's fascinating it could be a trivia question but I kind of gave the answer before I gave the question as you

(03:45):
know spoon an interesting thing about production at Martin as soon as the guitar neck is chosen for the build it's
given a serial number it's matched up with the body of the guitar and then they both go their separate ways for
weeks and months it's entirely possible the guitar was being built in December of 2021 not completed until 2022 that's
going to have a 2021 number yes that's correct yeah oh and that's very common when it comes to guitars

(04:12):
that are stamped at the end of the year and uh makes me think back to 1929 when
they made the first om-28s there were 11 that were stamped in 1929 doesn't mean
they weren't you know all finished in 1929 and ended up in some dealers hands you know that model didn't appear in the
catalog until 1930 but so same thing with your guitar so it was made in late 2021 or at least it was stamped in late

(04:36):
2021 that's very cool so my maybe you should tell us now that you are a bona
fide member of the order of the lucky dog and a verified registered owner of a
Martin d-45 all about the Martin d45 and what you love about it and why you wanted to get
one and and what you've learned since you've been able to play one so frequently

(05:00):
well before I go further you must be an honorary member of the lucky dog to listen to this program so if you don't
own a d45 cover your ears of course I'm kidding no no no no no no no no not true
not true but please you have the floor thank you all you have to do to listen
to this program is to share a love for the d45 that like we do and this is a guitar it's not very far off from an

(05:25):
hd28 A d41 A d42 most of these podcasts spoon and I spend a lot of time dealing
with the facts the figures all the specifications and some of that still holds true for what I love about my d45
but more of it is really just the emotion of it and always wanting something and I'll be really transparent
back in November of 2022 Martin sent out a bulletin to the dealer Network telling us

(05:50):
effective November 1st 2022 Martin can no longer guarantee Sitka Spruce tops
production models from Martin that are specked for a Sitka Spruce top could have either Sitka Spruce or Lutz Spruce
and that's the topic for its own podcast some other day but the point being if I
wanted to buy a d45 and guarantee that I was going to get one the way that they've been doing it and of course that

(06:15):
that could be traced backwards if I'm being really picky we can go back to when Brazilian changed East Indian we
can go back to when Adirondack changed to Sitka but long story short I got it in my mind wait what if I don't act now
and I wait another couple of years and I get a guitar that has a Lut Spruce top doesn't mean it's going to automatically

(06:36):
be worse but it's automatically going to be different and in my short sweet lifetime that I've always looked forward
to having a d45 my mind told me it was an East Indian Rosewood Sitka
Dreadnought this might be all something we could all laugh about in a couple of years and maybe I acted a
little bit too emotionally too quickly but that set the clock in motion and going from a nice gradual feeling I had

(06:59):
becoming a dealer in 2003 thinking to myself I can get a d45 anytime I want
there's no rush I'll be honest with you guys there was a little bit of an emotional rush to me to want to get one
that was guaranteed to have a sitka top now the joke's on me if these next two or three years every d45 we see has
Sitka then I jumped the gun too quickly but it really set everything in motion as far as what I wanted and what I love

(07:25):
about this d45 is It's a 2021 it has the solid sitka spruce top it has the east
Indian Rosewood back and sides and collected into that whole memory of what I think a d45 is speaking about Martin
guitars in current production that's what I've always been looking for so that's really the the heart of what
made me act so quickly and it's a little bit funny because I just mentioned that to Lori and she said well that that

(07:49):
makes sense you know don't wait you know what if what if in 10 years we're not even a dealer anymore we've retired and
now you got to buy guitars at retail what would you do then and I said hey I couldn't do that to you you should let
me buy one now at wholesale when they're still Sitka and we had a little bit of a laugh and it's you know I I sort of
could use the ammunition I haven't done this to her every two years since O3 it's not like I continually ship guitars

(08:13):
to customers all day long and at the end of the week I buy one for me I haven't done this since we've been a dealer so
it was one of those things I built up lots of Goodwill and that's really what brought me to owning one at this stage I
I certainly you know could make the argument it could have happened earlier and of course it could have waited but
I'm just so lucky that I I've just turned my dream into something real and I've I haven't really been separated

(08:35):
from and I play it every day well that's a great story it's a great story uh about a great guitar like I
said I've heard it through the internet already and uh am just very very
impressed with the three dimensional tone and the power and the and the uh
deep down darkness of the Rosewood and you know the warmth of the Sitka and all that and you know it's entirely possible

(09:01):
since you brought it up that the Sitka Spruce white spruce hybrid called Lutz
that I think and I think in German it's loots uh Spruce is uh may sound
unrecognizably different from Sitka but I totally understand why you would want what you have always
imagined and what you've always played and what you've seen other people play and and there I've certainly experienced

(09:27):
some absolutely wonderful d45s made of Brazilian and and said kiss Bruce
so today's d45 as you pointed out is made with Indian Rosewood and and a
spruce top and in your case Sitka Spruce top for people who are not that familiar
with the d45 it is the top of the line Martin guitar in the standard series

(09:53):
in the in the days um before they had things like standard series and all there were were the basic
standard models the d45 was always the the King of the Hill
and we'll get more into uh history of d45 later but it's now the flagship of the
standard series that sets the standard for what a top professional level flat

(10:19):
top acoustic guitar should be so what are the other specs yeah about the
d45 and why is it considered the the top of the line of the standard series all
right let's get down to it the specs of the d45 you can't argue with these folks and if any of you guys are sneaking
around hiding in the bushes ready to wave your mahogany flag sit down this is time for Rosewood and you're gonna like

(10:46):
it the Rosewood d45 is solid East Indian roads are back and sides solid Sitka
Spruce top bound fingerboard gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous hexagon inlays I know
some people listening to this program prefer snowflakes hexagons are the way to go I got the beautiful C Martin F
logo I guess it's the Block logo they call it on the headstock and in short it's just the d45 that I saw David

(11:12):
Crosby Graham Nash Stephen Stills Neil Young when I look at this instrument specs aside it's that's what I think of
as soon as I see it but you make a good point when we talk about specs some people might be asking in 2023 as we're
recording this how different is this guitar from a d42 you could even say d41
make the argument about hd28 Martin made the conscious effort in 2018 to

(11:37):
reimagine the entire standard series and with that they brought all four of these guitars forward shifted scallop bracing
so four or five years ago you could have made the argument that an hd28 sounds a little bit different from a d42 sounds
different from a d45 and we can go into those differences as we go through the program but the 2023 specs on the d45

(11:59):
it's forward shifted scallop bracing on the full Dreadnought depth body with
that big cavernous East Indian Rosewood Sound Chamber and the really warm Lush
syrupy brothy Spruce top to me it's really it's just so thick and like gooey
and just I it's not a can candy bar it's

(12:25):
like a Snickers stupid food analogies aside it's just a really thick Punchy Dreadnought tone and
do you have to go to the d45 to get these sounds not necessarily I can make the argument the 41 and 42 boy they are
if you call them lesser guitars because of the cost I suppose you'd have to but they they wouldn't be called less or

(12:46):
anything in any other argument but the d45 is just the most ornate big filthy nasty Dreadnought sound you
can get in the Martin standard series it's just the specs the specs don't lie
well I would I'll agree with you though um the way you would just describe it
with that Indian Rosewood and Sitka what I call the brothy like you know it's it's like it's meaty it's like a you

(13:13):
know stew thickness to it and and yet at the same time it is quite beautiful and
quite pretty and and has a great deal of Shimmer in the voice and
um and has an enormous amount of complexity in it and one of the things
that does set it apart from the 42 and the 41 and the 28 is the Pearl that you

(13:38):
just referred to it is a style 45 has that beautiful high colored Abalone
inlay not just around the edge of the top and not just on the fretboard and
the rosette but it has it inlaid along the edge of the side and the back and
the end block and the with end pieces they call it where the where the end pin

(14:03):
goes and the the v-shaped heel on the neck where the neck can attaches to the
body and the 42 and the 45 Sharon common the Fred insula as I call it the Pearl
that comes down around the fretboard and actually comes and melds with the rosette
um all just absolutely fabulous on the multi-colored wood fiber backstrip that

(14:31):
has has been associated with uh style 45 for decades and uh just a a gorgeous
gorgeous gorgeous thing the other thing that sets the d45 apart is the woods the
woods themselves are the most top shelf highest grade Woods up until modern

(14:53):
times they would call that grade eight they might still call it graded at the factory but now they really just refer
to Premium and regular or premium standard Woods 42s and 45s get premium but a flat
guarantee you to this day at the factory there will be Spruce tops and Rosewood

(15:15):
backs and sides that the people who are grating the wood will say that's a 45
and it's just some some really wonderful wood of course they consider it just
cosmetic grading I know that they grade based on color variation they want as much even
color they want green evenness of course these are all natural organic things

(15:40):
these solid wood plates so you will have definitely have variation
and there's some argument to say that you know what you would have seen on a 45 in the
early 70s will look more perfect than what you get today based on the natural resources availability and but you're
still talking about the best uh highest grade wood that they can offer you solid

(16:05):
ebony bridge and fingerboard usually Flawless those the big juicy berries of
Abalone finally covered highly colored abalone inlays the hexagon inlays on the
fretboard and the classic C Martin F headstock as you mentioned oh absolutely

(16:29):
lovely and uh 2018 with your reimagined series they went from a bright stark
white of a like plastic spoon to uh to
antique white which is a I don't know if you would want to call it bluish grayish off-white that is not quite so Stark and

(16:52):
was originally developed to um give the look of the bindings on Martin's from
like the 1940s 50s and 1960s so you have antique white binding and then you also
now get open back golden tuners vintage style tuners where the earlier d45
pre-2018 had still had the closed back tuners and those tuners

(17:17):
are reminiscent of the d45v from the vintage series and as a lot of people
know when they reimagine the standard series they brought over
various specs from the vintage series models whether it was the ahd 28 the d18
the triple o 18 and so forth and they did that with the d45 as well so the the

(17:40):
two things that really came over from that uh Series where the open back
Ventures style tuners and the forward shifted bracing that forward shifted
scallop embracing it definitely makes a difference in in that wonderful Lush
rumbly sound that we get out of your guitar the previous d28s were rear

(18:05):
shifted and and I always like the sound of that I like the sound of rear shifted
HD 28s and d45s and d41s um the d42 was always forward shifted
bracing in the modern time in modern era but they brought the 41 and the 45 for it as you said at the beginning of the
program and these guys together sound similar but I'm one of the people who's

(18:31):
thoroughly convinced the d45 with that Abalone Pearl inlaid
around the sides and the back have something different going on Stephen
Stills famously said on a television program Nightline when
they were doing a expose on Martin guitar and the creation of the Stephen Stills for Signature model he said that

(18:57):
a guitar is a box that rattles and everything that you do to that guitar affects how beautifully
it rattles one of the things they do with style 45 is they
inlay the Pearl inside a trench and so you
basically they carve out at what seems to us of extremely shallow little strip but if you get down into the down down

(19:21):
into like microscope level you're talking about a significant Channel cut in to let's say the spruce top that they
do for most modern guitars right where it's connected to the sides by the cedar
kerfing that's inside and the rest on and that basically allows the top to be
a little more flexible than a top that doesn't have that channel cut into it even when you then fill it in with other

(19:46):
stuff that Spruce is thinner right where it's connecting at the end and since
they die it's like a diaphragm of a drum and so that makes it a little more flexible which should result in Greater
resonance and you take that and now you do it to the Rosewood sides and the Rosewood back so they too

(20:07):
will Flex differently or more easily when contacted by sound waves so I'm
thoroughly convinced and I and I discovered this long ago that the d40s
fives sound different because of that and years ago I would go to guitar
stores and I would play D28 which I loved and I would play d45s and I

(20:32):
noticed this consistent change and I didn't necessarily like it I mean people Accuse Me On guitar forms of you're just
imagining it because it's so beautiful I actually preferred the 28 sound because that's the sound that I grew up
listening to and that was the sound to me of what a Martin guitar should sound like and there was something
what I that I used that I now refer to as Shimmer to it um which does is evocative of the shiny

(20:56):
Pearl I realize but there is something in the voice when a chord sustains we first ring a chord and it's bouncing off
the walls of the of the room all that stuff there is just a little something extra I know a friend of ours from
Martin Fest said that when he's at Martin Fest and we're in rooms of people wearing guitars he said I can always
recognize a pearl encrusted 45 when my backs turned and um and I believe him so

(21:23):
I know as a dealer you can't honestly say that martinet will never ever say anything about about things like that uh
affecting tone my question for people who don't believe it is why would it not
um when just you with just about anything you do to a guitar can can affect its tone so I envy you
tremendously for the uh the opportunity to own such a guitar with such high

(21:48):
level words with the uh the modern version with the Ford shifted scholar
bracing and the open back tuners just uh just terrific just terrific
well thank you and listening to you talk about all these specs does bring back a really good memory and maybe the lesson
here is be patient good things come to those who wait back when I really really wanted a d45 even more than I did now

(22:11):
they uh there were some different specs for sure I remember falling in love with
Allen's hd28v at the very first Martin Fest I'm not sure if you were in that
Circle but a lot of people recognized like why is Mario making those puppy dog eyes for that guys guitar he's not going to give it to him but the hd28v
was my first encounter with forward-shifted scallop bracing East Indian Sitka all the way back in 2002

(22:37):
and up until 2018 the d45 had a 1 and 11 16 inch nut so if I wouldn't have waited
I would have had a nut width that I don't necessarily prefer and I would have had a bracing that was different
spoon can you remember what the bracing was on a d45 before it was reimagined
yes yeah they they were it had same bracing as the hd28 in those days so it

(22:59):
had what they considered the the modern bracing which was a little forward from
rear shifted racing of the 1940s and 50s and
um definitely farther away from The Sound Hole than forward shifted bracing so it's closer to the bridge plate so
the bridge plate area is let around the top is less flexible and it has a

(23:23):
a different sound to the bass and to the and to the resonance itself
um it's really a combination of uh extra resonance and really extra Resonance of
the base frequencies I've been happy with those kind of guitars uh the d45s from that era I've played some that are
wonderful um prior to that the d45 when it was brought back in modern times did not

(23:47):
have scallop racing originally the scallop racing came in and I'm pretty sure in 1986 but by the mirror that
you're talking about they had scallop racing uh standard series scallop racing but it was in in the modern rear
position and the hd28v would have had the Ford shifted bracing not the vintage

(24:08):
series got uh which just I think just turns up the resonance and accentuates
the what I call the undertone of the bass not necessarily the bass notes per
se and yes and I'm glad you pointed out the neck width because in in 2018 with
the reimagined standard series the series was was basically

(24:32):
standardized to have the new modern high performance neck which has a modified
low oval profile and a high performance taper so it's virtually identical to the
neck you were describing that ended at 1 11 16 inch they just cheat the the area
out down by the first three Frets a little bit giving you a little more room down there for for thumb threading and

(24:56):
for bar chording and for you know basic quarters in general and it's been a big success uh it was
controversial at the time but Martin was basically doing was moving to the industry standard because many many many
many other dealers out there makers of guitars had gone to a one and three
quarter inch nut width but that remained Sleek up the neck so it is one and three

(25:21):
quarter at the nut and two and an eighth at the 12th fret so by the time you get
up to the 12th fret you're just like the old 111 16th inch Knack so sleeker faster up the neck uh the reason they
went with the modified low oval it was because according to Tim Teel and Scott Sasser uh that that was the number one

(25:42):
request of people of the custom shop was to change from the low profile or the modified v-neck to the modified low oval
and so they finally decided uh with Mr Martin's approval to make that the
standard neck now for the standard series and almost every other guitar made in Nazareth Pennsylvania and
below the standard series like the 16 17s and so forth so you have the modern

(26:09):
d45 that is not entirely ironically
still has some vintage d45 aspects to it so very cool very cool indeed it's funny
to say Scott Sasser and Tim Teel I was just down to Martin a couple weeks ago with both of those guys in the custom shop I told them the same story about
the reason Lori let me get a d45 now is because you're changing from guaranteeing Sitka Spruce to the

(26:33):
possibility of Luts and they both at the same time laughed and said you're welcome
well we'll see you know I don't really you talked about it you jump in the gun you may start playing some of these uh
loots d45s and say wow I could have had one of those so but from my understanding of it they're extremely
similar so I um you know some people say that loots sounds a little more like

(26:58):
Engelman but it still has the what's important is that it has the volume the
attack ceiling and power of Sitka and they're probably going to be interchangeable but I don't blame you at
all for wanting what you wanted to have um you know there are there's been a
number of d45s over the years and some of them have all been just stamp d45

(27:20):
because of how it's changed and others are because of models like d45v you know
and and other series and back before they had them corralled into series uh
including including signature models and all that so it's really uh it's really a
wonderful Legacy and frankly you have uh I wouldn't say renewed by faith but

(27:46):
confirmed to my faith Ian Martin making some of the best guitars they've ever
made right here and now because again you're I was just so impressed with the
sound of that guitar when you were playing it on your Martin versus Martin so I highly recommend people go there
after they listen to this podcast and listen to that guitar in that wonderful

(28:10):
Deep full powerful complex beautiful tone I mean Mario wants to call it dirty
and nasty it certainly can growl and get down but it's also just uh uh quite
Angelic but maybe it's one of those angels with a big flaming sword in his hand because it's a it is a Powerhouse
uh of uh thank you of tone you know part of the attraction to do this episode was calling asking us to

(28:37):
speak about this stuff and I remember reading an email from him he made a good point and is curious about the Mike
Longworth connection here what can you tell a spoon about when they went away and how they came back I'll go back to
begin with style 45 on the first style 45s weren't actually style 45 they were
style they were double O 42 special that was a 12th fret double O I meant to look

(29:03):
this up 1905 1909 I think the first one may have been made in 1902 even uh 12
foot double O Style 42 was the fanciest Pearl ornate guitar at the time and this
one had extra Pearl and it also had a mandolin like an Italian mandolin pickguard under the strings big

(29:24):
decorative tortoiseshell Pickard with this extremely ornate uh I don't know if
you would call it a Rococo design in uh and and beautiful pearl and you know
with a pro on the back and sides and so uh Frank Henry Martin or somebody
uh working for him had made the decision that they were going to move into doing

(29:48):
that with other guitars and then the first 45s started showing up jump to
1933 well I guess 1931 was when Martin started making the Dreadnought and
selling it under its own brand they had been making Big 12 fret dreadnoughts since the teens but they were sold
exclusively through the Ditson Guitar Company and so they're making their own

(30:12):
dreadnoughts and the very famous superstar of that time Gene Autry the
cowboy singer and actor asked Mr Martin to make him one of those new giant
guitars because dread not you have to remember were totally dwarfing everything else that Martin had been
putting out under their own brand so in 1933 Gene Autry had the first official

(30:39):
d45 made with his name in script up the
fretboard and they ultimately made a one a wonderful uh Indian Sitka
commemoration model years ago and I know one of them existed in the gene archery
Museum which is sadly closed but but and I know someone who owns one who who

(31:01):
absolutely loves it that was the first d45 the um country star named let me see
let me see to see if I can remember what his name is um I was going to say Kenny Chesney uh
yeah no no Jackie kids more also had a
uh 12 fret d45 made and then they started making the 14 fret d45s now

(31:28):
these first d45s had uh snowflake inlay on them what style 45 had always had up
until that time across the 20s and 30s and when you're talking about the 0045s
and and and those kind of guitars and the original om45 Deluxe uh had that as
well the d45 had that I think only for the first year and then moved to the

(31:52):
hexagons the hexagons came from Martin's at the time their most expensive guitar
was the F9 which was one of their Jazz Arch tops those Jazz Arch top guitars cost more
than the flat tops so it was really the top of the line in the 1930s and they took that block headstock the CF C

(32:13):
Martin f Pearl headstock and the hexagon inlays
and moved it over onto the M45 and the d45 the big 14 fret wondrous d45
originally the d45s weren't considered uniquely special so they just used the same wood they
were using for the 28s but not long into that they realized what they were on to

(32:38):
and that's when they started saving the best wood for style 45
guitars and there were other stars that had them they only made a total of 91
d45s and when they were retired in 1939 the onset of the second world war and
the austerity that was happening and only as far as they know only three of them were 12 fret guitars there's

(33:04):
multiple d45 s guitars one of them was 12 fret but the F didn't mean standard
body size 12 fret back then it made meant special order so there are two that were made with an extra wide top
which was ultimately recreated as an authentic series model one of those two-headed extra a deeper body and then

(33:27):
they also had made one left hand at d45 and I've only gotten to see a couple of
these d45s in real life and they're they're you know they're awesome they're
absolutely awesome and uh you know the one at the Museum is a fine example and
that was from that one's from 1942 so I guess they ended I'm sorry now I'm 39 39 is when they change the next neck width

(33:51):
in 1942 were the last d45s made and then all the pro went away there were no more
40s 41s 42 well 41 didn't exist then no more 42s no more 45s in those days the
42 was totally different than the modern 42 it had didn't have the same number of fret markers they had snowflake markers
that started the fifth fret they looked they looked very different from the modern style 42s

(34:16):
so now we jump to people really asking Martin to bring back Pearl trim
and a lot of big singing stars in Nashville and other places were paying
artisans to take their Martin d-45 or in some cases even a d35 and embellish it with

(34:37):
pearl inlay to various degrees of of audaciousness and sometimes ugliness
even but some of it looked really great and some of them some of these people were you know Wonderful Artisans and one
of them was Mike Longworth who was down in Tennessee doing this and so Martin
hired him to come back to Martin in 1968 to inlay two prototype guitars uh

(35:02):
dreadnoughts uh these were still they're still using Brazilian rosewood at that time the old the uh pre-war 45s were all
Brazilian rose with with Adirondack Red Spruce tops the 1968 and 69
d45s have Brazilian rosewood back and sides and European Spruce tops they

(35:23):
caught it German Spruce in those days that actually meant that it was purchased from a dealer in West Germany
there's no way for them to know whether it was Swiss Alpine Spruce or Italian Alpine Spruce it's possible it could
have been German but as I understand it um instrument grade wood was basically had been

(35:44):
completely cut out just like Adirondack was in the United States because it's it's a unique uh strength and
cross-grain properties made it very good for struts in airplanes and gliders and stuff of which those
countries made zillions um there is a rumor that it was actually East German Spruce that was a legally uh
smuggled from the other side of the Iron Curtain and there is some Credence to

(36:09):
that it definitely was available for sale in New York City in those days so it's possible the uh European Spruce on
those d45s was technically actually German spruce so
um the the major difference between the d45 from 1942 and Mike longworth's d45

(36:32):
was a suggestion made by I used to know this guy's name uh somebody who helped
him was a you know helped make those guitars and that is the end block the the Pearl around the N block is a true
rectangle with uh with pearl uh you know all the way around
and that makes it different from a pre-war d45 so that people could not try

(36:56):
to distress a modern day d45 and change the Tutors or whatnot and try to sell it as a pre-war d45 oh wow Mine yeah Martin
likes to do that they will do little subtle things like that when it comes to uh particularly 45s and sometimes they
don't mention what it is but they know what it is and they probably didn't mention that either I think other people just know what they're talking about

(37:17):
figure that out so the d45 then switched to Indian Rosewood in 1970. and there's
rumors that some Brazilian got over into 1970 but that's as far as we know is not true at all I do not have the date of
when they switched to Sitka but it was around that time shortly thereafter uh for the top uh these guitars were made
with straight braces they did not have scallop bracing neither did the d42 when

(37:43):
it first came out when uh not that long afterwards uh they people were asking for well two things happened one is
people were asking for the snowflakes of the early early d45s and so
uh Mike Longworth offered the suggestion of why don't we make a new guitar that

(38:04):
has the snowflakes of a pre-war d45 but not put the Pearl on the back and
sides so that it'd be more affordable and will be definitely different from
the 45s and keep the 45 special and That Was Then renamed the d42 because Style
42 was long ago retired and that made sense to them the d41 followed later on

(38:30):
and that was another attempt to offer pearly Martin similar to the d45 but not
as special and it had lower grade Woods they're still higher than style 28 and
35 Woods it also had hexagons that at first they left that hexagon off of the

(38:51):
first fret and then they changed it and went with smaller hexagons so the d41
has always had smaller hexagons it also does not have Pearl around the Fret- insula but they were still very similar
to the d45 in that they had rear shifted or modern you know modern shifted
non-scato bracing and I'm pretty sure the d45 went to scallop racing in 1986.

(39:18):
these all had the one in 11 16 inch next they would have been thicker necks they
also had large Maple Bridge plates and which changes the sound so they have a
unique sound and um and that would include the modern d uh you know those modern Brazilian
d45s have big Maple Rosewood Bridge plates so don't let anybody tell you that it ruins the sound of a Martin

(39:42):
guitar Maura and I are quite familiar with one of those Brazilian what used to be owned by David Soul the actor and it
was bought by Martin fresh friend of ours and uh Tim Perry I think if he had been in Utah if he'd been in Las Vegas
he would have uh or you know he would have tried to marry it but uh foreign
but it was uh so this is so quickly we're coming up to what became the

(40:06):
modern d45 so you so the d45 became the top of the line everybody wanted one uh
lots and lots of I mean Jimi Hendrix had one so uh everybody wanted a d45
and they did come out with a d45 SS I think it was called which is a 12th fret
with extra approval around the headstock and stuff and uh we have a good

(40:31):
Minecraft friend who owns one of those and they have a paddle headstock they have a modern headstock instead of a
instead of the slotted headstock so and there have been various special d45s
that have come out over the time but the main one the one that is now considered the standard series uh remained the top
of the line I'm blanking out now but I bet you listeners on Facebook and YouTube uh versions of this podcast will

(40:57):
start just popping out people on d45s it is true that Crosby Stills Nash and
Young all bought one from those first batches that first batch of production Stephen Stills of course being the guru
that can turn them all on to the pre-war pre-war Martins he owns a 1939 d45 and

(41:18):
as well as other ones uh his signature model was uh was really the first time
Martin tried to make a recreation of a pre-war guitar and you know there's
plenty of things that are different from that in real pre-war uh you know d45 but
they're still absolutely fantastic guitars then they came out with the d45 golden era which first came out with

(41:42):
d45v vintage series v-neck 1 and 11 16th in Phoenix Sitka forward shifted Sitka
snowflakes that's the guitar That Was Then evolved into Mario's guitar uh
change the neck put on the hexagons change the binding from grain to ivoroid to antique white and put on the
Vintage tuners but in terms of the the real guts that forward shifted scallop

(42:08):
bracing is what really drives that engine so I have to say right here and now stop
the presses we're not going to go any farther until we discuss the d45 modern
Deluxe our friend Colin in England who recommended this topic is a huge fan of

(42:29):
the modern Deluxe series and he's also a huge fan of the
d45 and the d45 modern Deluxe just came out
in 2022 and I think it's entirely possible that it's only a matter of time
no pressure Colin no pressure before the twain shall meet

(42:51):
in his hands uh d-45 modern Deluxe just might have to be in his future
oh man if I'm being really honest that's the one guitar that might make me regret having a d45 not modern Deluxe that
thing is amazing absolutely true I have to say you know
we knew it was coming we finally then get to see it at the Mark Museum when I was doing my video

(43:17):
shoot and uh it just exceeded all of my expectations modern Deluxe of course has
uh the very special features we can kind of ping-pong back and forth I'll start
with the uh carbon fiber Bridge plate that has two thin pieces of carbon fiber over top and underneath a piece of uh

(43:38):
VTS torreified Adirondacks Bruce is being used for the the bridge plate
um that's a very cool feature basically it's going to preserve that bridge plate forever protected by that carbon fiber
from the ball ends of the strings um what's another uh fancy feature on
the modern Deluxe series well if you think having a VTS piece of Adirondack sandwiched in the bridge

(44:02):
plate how about the whole top the VTS Sitka is my favorite part of the modern Deluxe series and it's a little bit hard
to dissect because you can't take a modern Deluxe and take the bridge plate away take other things away but I think
the fact that that top is VTS Sitka really really makes that thing sing what
else do you know about the modern Deluxe well you you're going to talk about the sit guitar which by the way uh as

(44:26):
everybody's been told the tops could be Sitka or they could be loots or Lutz
Spruce in the future very similar to Jessica it's a hybrid natural hybrid of
Sitka and white spruce um that a lot of people love so Martin's going to start using that interchangeably even on the modern
Deluxe series it looks like but I'm going to jump to the underside of the top because of the Golden Era style

(44:50):
scalloping on the Adirondack Spruce bracing that is supporting that Spruce
top that is uh that was designed for the old
Golden Era series it has more scalloping to it that's take away more wood than
the standard scalloping that you get out of the standard series to to increase flexibility and resonance

(45:13):
next we're not out of specs yet my garden variety d45 came with crappy
plastic Bridge pins until our pal Marshall Fleischer birthday gifted me an awesome set of ivory pins from our other
friend Dave Musselwhite this is the name-dropping part of the show if you haven't recognized it yet but I think
the Luxe Bridge pins liquid metal pins in the modern Deluxe d45 are the next awesome feature that we cannot forget to

(45:37):
talk about yeah liquid metal is a brand name for a man-made type of metallic glass it
actually has the molecular structure of a glass of some kind of glass but it's still metal and what's so cool about
this is it allows energy to pass through the material with no dampening effects

(45:59):
you're not losing any of the energy from the strings because of the bridge pins and it increases noticeably increases
volume and noticeably increases sustain of the fundamental note not just the sustain of like letting a cord ring out
but the actual note as you hit it stays at its peak volume just a little bit
longer and long enough to be noticeable and they're such a rich complex tone

(46:23):
coming out of this d45 that's similar but also different from the regular d45
it's got the Pearl on the back sides the top high color Abalone trim that you
expect from a d45 live and and around the end pin box and and where the neck
heel joins the body the V of the neck is of that heel has the the Pearl trim it

(46:51):
has the beautiful early 1930 and pre-1930 style 45 snowflakes and each
one of those snowflakes and diamonds and Cat's Eyes is lined outlined in pure
Argent white mother Pearl which is a beautiful effect just really stunning

(47:13):
and then the the headstock face plate is a
pre-1930s style 45 torch and the last time that was used on Martin's was in
1930 and it was used on the om-45 deluxe and it is also outlined in the mother of
pearl it's a really stunning look and that goes along with the neck shape that

(47:39):
was taken from the 1930 om-45 Deluxe in the Martin Museum the very you almost
can't call it a v because it's a very low V and it has this amazing asymmetrical
shape to it this very subtly adds more uh meat to the to the base side coming

(48:00):
from the V down to the fingerboard and a faster slope to the treble side and it
fits right in the nook of your hand just beautifully but it also has a modern feel to it that it doesn't get thick as
you go up the neck it stays low and that's that's thanks to the modern truss rod and also the modern neck heel which
is much smaller than a 30 style heel so incredibly comfortable neck got the high

(48:27):
performance taper so you have the one and three quarter inch of the nut two and an eighth at the 12th fret so it is
a it's got to be my favorite Martin X shape now and it's currently only available
on Modern Deluxe guitars or Custom Shop orders but quite a piece of work and
like Mari said you know he has this spectacular d45 but the d45 monitoring

(48:52):
Deluxe is indeed a modernized version of the d45 and also
uh you know super deluxe version really cool and I'll admit it now that we're talking
about the modern deluxe version of my favorite Martin d45 I'm a little bit bummed but I'm not because I'm a very
Liquid Metal Bridge pin metallic glass half full kind of person

(49:17):
well said well said let's pause for a moment and listen to a
sound sample this is the Martin d45 [Music]
[Applause] [Music]

(49:50):
foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music]
[Laughter] [Music]

(50:24):
foreign
[Music] let's see I'll just say one more of a
John Mayer d45 engelman's spruce top uh fantastic guitar and I know David Crosby
owns more than one so he probably has that you know the Brazilian one with the German top but I'm pretty sure he has

(50:49):
others so I think who was I most recently saw playing when I can't think right now but plenty of d45 is not there
and you know they they have been a status symbol but they're not just a
status symbol they're not just the Cadillac or the Mercedes or the Rolls-Royce of Martins they really stand
up to their reputation good friend of mine in New York city has an old friend

(51:12):
a former neighbor maybe a apartment building neighbor it was airline pilot who has a d45 from 1981 or something
like that and it's just so so three-dimensional and just has
developed over the years and seasoned into just one chord uh spectacular

(51:34):
Technicolor Dreamcoat kind of sound and so so Mario has something to look forward to in his old age
so can you think of any d45s off the top of your head that uh special unique signature models or did I run through
them all well you hit most of the ones that I would have said I'm certainly in the csny camp uh you reminded me of the John

(51:55):
Mayer I did forget about him and I'm actually remembering more back Channel stories of our friends at Martin Fest
than actual uh you know famous people but for better or worse my mind always goes right to Crosby Stills Nash and
Young And when I think of the d45 I think of David Crosby and then before I think of other artists I start humming
David Crosby's songs so I'm not going to be a lot of help but into other genres I know one of my favorite guitar players

(52:19):
that I almost never mentioned Ry Cooter I've seen some videos with him Eric Johnson I know he's the Strat guy but
there's been some good good YouTube videos of him with a probably a pretty recent d45 or at least not a I don't
think that's like a 30s d45 but ry cooder would be one Eric Johnson Marty Stewart I think I'm not a country guy but that
sort of rings about understood actually owns Hank the one that is repeatedly owned by Hank Williams I'm not sure if there's any uh photographic Providence

(52:46):
of Hank Williams playing in d45 then I can remember off top my head but it's he has Hank seniors d45 and I think a
country music Harlan Howard is a name that a lot of people don't know but he was a Hall of Fame songwriter and
actually made a very comfortable living as a song doctor and the biggest stars

(53:08):
you could possibly imagine would pay a fee to go visit him and have him help
them with the song they were working on or tweak their song and when you came into his office
uh in the waiting area for his office or you I guess came into his office when he
wasn't there and you were sat down in this chair that was lower than his desk so he looked down on you and uh a comfy

(53:33):
chair but on either side of you was a Gibson j200 and a Martin d45
that you got to play in his office and that was you know the status symbols of
where he was in the world so uh Harlan I definitely think about uh
Travis Tritt had some kind of custom d45 I know and James Taylor uh is supposedly

(53:56):
uh had a custom d45 made for him and Roger Waters I know uh of Pink Floyd
d45 and I'm pretty sure that the uh the rock uh Hard Rock Cafe I think that's
where Jimi Hendrix is is out in Seattle I think that's where Jimmy Hendrick's d-45 resides I just thought of Tom Petty

(54:18):
too oh oh well I'm that's one on me I don't think I knew that he had a d45 no not so there's lots of people you'll see
that have d41s and that doesn't mean they didn't own a d45 but they would take the d41 on stage George Jones was
famous for a d41 Van Damme Fogelberg stuff like that but that's not again it's not the same thing the d45 is
definitely on a pedestal all its own and and I'm sure there's many others out

(54:42):
there that people would be able to to point out uh owners of d45s not to
mention and you know private players and players that don't necessarily want to advertise they own a top of the line
Martin sitting in their home but but I you know I guess I think of Neil Young you know David Crosby and you know young same thing Neil Young again this is the

(55:03):
Brazilian German straight-braced one but it's it's such a big part of his sound
uh just like his 30s D28 which is sounds much deeper and richer and more you know
deeply roasted coffee kind of Rosewood sound to uh with this Adirondacks Bruce
and its forward shifted scallop racing and it's and the hide glue construction all that stuff and the extra years on it

(55:26):
uh sound quite different from his d45 which it sounds uh brighter and more
mirrored and and shimmery but uh still one of you know say it's a For Me
growing up and stuff that's a quintessential sound so once again you and I are on the same page when it comes
to that kind of stuff because because of the music that we listen to um I should have said Jackson Browne when it came to

(55:48):
the d41 speaking of the music that we listened to um yeah he has a cool he has a great d41
Sunburst I've seen on stage and I've uh I've ogled that as well if I wasn't gonna get this that was going to be Plan B
ah yeah well you know I'm glad you could pull it off um they are it's a it's a wonderful
guitar you know I've been lucky and I'm going to Martin Fest and got to do a night where I was chosen to be the

(56:11):
person to a B for a whole bunch of people the Stephen Stills and the d45
Golden Era which was also Adirondack 450 Adirondack in a big big one they both of
them have the big three one and three quarter inch v-necks uh that was a a certainly a treat but also anytime I get
to play some of these d45 is uh is I feel extremely fortunate and maybe

(56:38):
someday when Mario gets an important phone call and sets his on the stand and he's not looking
no phone call is that important well take off my big Bejeweled Timex
and I don't actually own one of those but uh I'll get to play uh Maury's d45
well true or false I I was in the custom shop a couple weeks ago and we were talking about you and the way that Tim

(57:05):
Teel said your name made me think that you were in there pretty recently too when are we going to see the d43 and the
d44 laughs
um well the d44 would not have any pro on it at all style 44 means everything
that a 45 gets but very simple uh Woody inlay so I don't know if we'll ever see

(57:29):
a d44 unless somebody I'm going to show their custom shop has done exactly that for people in the past a d43 uh I don't
know why but that sounds like some sort of uh K ration from World War II yeah I have a
case of d43 if anybody wants that spam but uh but uh just give me the powdered
eggs you gotta well I'm at d41 d42 they skip right to d45 I'm glad they did but

(57:54):
I don't understand why well a lot of these that a lot of those uh style names came and went over the
years so so there probably was a style 43 at some point um though maybe not there's possibly
they did actual skip certain numbers at the time they came out with 45 they 44
already existed that was Top Shelf woods but without without anything uh pearly

(58:20):
on it that was made for um a famous uh woman guitarist who is also a famous
teacher and that's what she wanted and that's what she also sold guitars to her
students and uh by Avida Alcott Bickford is her name but so the 44s were
originally made oh you're serious yeah we originally made for her and um and Lawrence Juber one of his signature

(58:45):
models was a 44 because he wanted they wouldn't let him have top shelf one that's got a 45 and he didn't want Pearl
he wanted the blank fingerboard that's what it was he to get a blank fingerboard his guitar had to be called
a 44 if it was going to have level 45 woods and um so they still do that they
still hold to that tradition and I would have to look up in a book to see if

(59:07):
there was ever a style 43 but there probably was at one time that's probably why they went with 45 when they went
super fancy well before I go throwing numbers around making jokes about this I have to remember who I'm dealing with jeez
exactly so uh so yes um but that's just like Tim to enjoy a

(59:30):
joke at my expense it was pretty good Rameen looked over at the wall and there's a lot of guitars in
the custom shop that are hanging up backwards and he said to Tim hey this Mario guy can you trust him and Tim said
yeah and he said you know like compared to spoon like because he is trustworthy a spoon and Tim's like yeah and I said
is that a compliment absolutely

(59:55):
that's what I thought and then nothing happened after that nothing was shown to anybody
I know nothing I see nothing um
no I have to say I'm now throwing down a gauntlet because Romaine has not been on this show and I think it's time we you
know it'd be a good opportunity now with Nam coming up to maybe invite him to

(01:00:21):
come on the show afternoon to talk about some of the projects He was directly involved in and and you know and to get
give people an idea of his uh uh his history with the company and all the
great things that he's done at Martin guitar I think that'd be really great I couldn't agree more and off the record
on the record I did remind him so he's certainly going to make an appearance soon and Spoon I have to ask you how

(01:00:44):
impressed would you be we've done so many podcasts every week we do our very best how awesome would it be if we stop
right here and this ends up being a 45 minute episode
I like the way you think um so yes a nice 45 minute episode for
45 wonderful Styles one way or the other that led up

(01:01:08):
to style 45 and the modern d45 Flagship of the Martin guitar line
now the only trick is I don't know if this is 45 minutes until we edit it so don't laugh if we're off the mark
I will if we're at d43 then you know what I was shooting for the whole time

(01:01:29):
but from all of us at Maury's Music including my d45 thanks for listening
hear you later this has been a presentation of Maury's
music your trusted source for Martin and Blue Ridge guitars find Us online at
morrismusic.com [Music]